Manchester bombing: Fifth man arrested following attack

Detention follows announcement bomber's younger brother also held in Tripoli

Floral tributes left by Manchester Town Hall after a suicide bomber killed 22 people leaving a pop concert at the Manchester Arena on Monday night (Ben Birchall/PA)

A fifth man has been arrested following the Manchester Arena terrorist bombing, Greater Manchester Police has said.

The arrest took place in Wigan and a package the man was carrying is now being assessed.

“We have made an arrest in Wigan this afternoon in connection with the investigation into the horrific incident at Manchester Arena,” a spokeswoman for Greater Manchester Police said.

“When arrested, the man was carrying a package which we are currently assessing.”

Earlier on Wednesday it was announced the younger brother of suicide bomber Salman Abedi had been arrested in Libya.

Hashem Abedi, who was born in 1997, was detained on Tuesday evening in the capital Tripoli.

The father of the Manchester bomber, Ramadan Abedi, has also been arrested by security forces in Libya, ITV reported.

Overnight three men were arrested in the south of Manchester as investigators worked to establish whether the 22-year-old Abedi acted alone or was part of a wider terrorist network, raiding several properties across Manchester.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said authorities would leave “no stone unturned” to find out who was responsible for Monday’s attack.

“We don't yet know whether [Abedi] was acting alone, whether there were accomplices, whether others had access to the explosives he devised,” he told Sky News.

Abedi killed 22 people, including children, and injured dozens of others with an improvised explosive device he detonated after an Ariana Grande concert on Monday night.